At a research center on the 28-acre Coconut Island, in Kaneohe Bay, Gates and her team are further stressing strong corals by exposing them to warmer, more acidic water. They then breed the resilient strains with one another, helping perpetuate the stronger traits.

The resulting super corals will eventually be transplanted to Kaneohe Bay, where an estimated 60 percent to 80 percent of corals have bleached this year. Coral bleaching is a phenomenon in which stressed corals expel algae and turn white. If not given time to recover, bleached corals can perish.

With any luck, the transplanted super corals will grow, remain healthy and reproduce in the face of climate change.

The quest to grow hearty corals comes as researchers are warning about the dire health of the world's reefs. An estimated 30 percent of the planet's coral has already perished as a result of above-average ocean temperatures, El Nino's effects and acidification.

This undated image provided by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation shows Toola, a sea otter who died at the aquarium, Saturday March 3, 2012, in Monterey, Calif. Believed to be 15 or 16, Toola succumbed to natural causes and to the infirmities of age, an aquarium spokesman said. (AP Photo/Monterey Bay Aquarium)